Defence Force stuck in neutral on gender policy

THE term “gender neutral” appears on the Defence website at least 400 times — yet the government denies it has any official policy banning soldiers from using terms like “men” and “women”.

THE term “gender neutral” appears on the Defence website at least 400 times — yet the government denies it has any official policy banning soldiers from using terms like “men” and “women”.

The Daily Telegraph was told a Freedom of Information request to clarify Defence’s exact position on the issue had to be denied because there was too many official documents to go through.

Defence has denied have a directive on using the words ‘him’ and ‘here’.

The request was made after this newspaper revealed soldiers were being told they shouldn’t use words like “him”, “her” or even “they” in case it offends peers.

The instructions appeared in a “LGBTI guide”.

Despite the obvious evidence, Defence Minister Marise Payne claimed there was no “directive” on the issue.

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The Daily Telegraph sought to use FOI laws to find other potential guides by asking for internal documents containing the phrase “gender neutral”.

But governance and reform division boss Judy Edwards said they didn’t have the resources because there were so many documents.

What trainee officers are learning in the military.

“Please be advised that a basic search of the Defence Intranet using the term ‘gender neutral’ returned over 400 results alone,” she said in a letter refusing the FOI request.

“The particular subject of your request will likely attract refusal under section 24AA of the FOI Act because, with few exceptions, it would simply not be possible for the decision maker to certify that he or she has identified every copy of every document in the Department’s possession.

“It is considered that the workload involved in conscientiously attempting to do so would involve a substantial and unreasonable diversion of the resources of the agency.”

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The Daily Telegraph revealed on Monday how the Australian Defence Force Academy’s LGBTI guide told soldiers to apologise if they use language like “him” and “her” and warned they will be reported for “unacceptable behaviour” if the speech was deliberate.

“Use gender neutral language when referring to relationships or gender identities,” the guide says.

The language guide also banned ADF staff from using “pronouns or language that does not match a person’s gender identity”.